DUBAI: A leader of Al-Qaeda in North Africa has urged Muslims worldwide to attack French interests over Paris’ military intervention against Islamists in Mali, in a video message posted online.
“It is your duty, all Muslims… to attack French interests everywhere,” Abu Obaida al-Annabi said in the recording dated April 25.
Annabi, presented as the head of the council of dignitaries of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, called for “full mobilisation” to combat the “new crusade of France”.
“Jihad (holy war) is now the duty of every capable among you,” he said.
France sent troops in January to Mali to quash Al-Qaeda-linked groups that had taken control of half of the country.
French troops fighting alongside the Malian army and other African soldiers have largely succeeded in driving Islamist insurgents from the north, but pockets of resistance remain, particularly in the Gao region.
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